Queen Rania’s Remarks at UN High-Level Meeting on 30th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women – NY, USA

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.

Thirty years ago, the Beijing Declaration set an ambitious agenda for gender equality – and there has been progress. In Jordan, I’m proud to see many women leading meaningful lives, true to their own aspirations and ambitions.

But we all have a long way to go, with rising violence pushing millions of women further behind.

In the past two years, global conflict has soared to its highest level in three decades. Of all the challenges facing women today, this surge is by far the most destructive.

It’s true, bombs don’t discriminate. But wounds borne by women in warzones cut deeper than flesh: gendered violence, heightened health risks, exploitation, and the daily assault on their dignity.

Yes, we must celebrate women’s achievements, everywhere – but what do glass ceilings mean to women forced to live in tents?

The women suffering most often receive the least global attention: the starving Sudanese women surviving on animal feed… the Rohingya girl coming of age in a defunded camp… and countless others whose stories go untold.

Every silence sends this message: some women are worth defending, and some aren’t worth the trouble. That silence has been deafening in Gaza.

There, we’ve seen female journalists reporting their own families’ displacement… cesareans performed by flashlight, without anesthesia … and new mothers, too malnourished to nurse and denied access to infant formula, watching as their babies fall to famine.

Israel’s war on Gaza has shortened women’s life expectancy by 30 years. Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration, what have global promises done for them?

There’s no denying the power of women who endure under fire. But that empowerment didn’t come from decisions made in halls like this one. It came in spite of them.

Women’s rights cannot be filtered through the lens of political expediency. Our international system is failing generations of women by failing to stop those who commit violence with impunity.

I urge the UN to act decisively against violators of international humanitarian law, and to restore some balance to our world.

No one can claim to stand for women, and stand on the sidelines.

Thank you.